Move Records Australian classical & art music, est. 1968
Front cover art for The Ring of Bone

The Ring of Bone

While the past decade has seen recordings of Elisabeth Lutyens’ chamber and choral works released to critical acclaim, her piano music has remained obscure. Pianist Arabella Teniswood-Harvey has carefully researched and here presents that neglected repertoire.

Arabella Teniswood-Harveypiano Elisabeth Lutyenscomposer
  • CatalogueMD 3354
  • Released16 Jan 2012
  • Playing time63 minutes 6 seconds
  • Recorded at Move Records Studio

Listen & tracks

2 of 22 tracks have a preview · 6 works · 63:06

  1. Five Intermezzi, op. 9 (1942)Elisabeth Lutyens 5 movements5:07
    1. 1 i. Allegro moderato 1:25
    2. 2 ii. Allegro, ma non troppo, ma agitato :35
    3. 3 iii. Allegretto capricioso :40
    4. 4 iv. Adagio 1:44
    5. 5 v. Poco allegro e con moto :43
  2. Three Improvisations (1948)Elisabeth Lutyens 3 movements4:25
    1. 6 Adumbration 1:59
    2. 7 Obfuscation :56
    3. 8 Peroration 1:30
  3. Five Bagatelles, Op. 49 (1962)Elisabeth Lutyens 5 movements7:35
    1. 9 1 1:45
    2. 10 2 1:08
    3. 11 3 2:08
    4. 12 4 1:25
    5. 13 5 1:09
  4. 14 The Ring of Bone, Op. 106 (1975) Elisabeth Lutyens 13:36
  5. Seven Preludes, Op. 126 (1978)Elisabeth Lutyens 7 movements22:57
    1. 15 i. “…whose name was writ in water” 3:42
    2. 16 ii. Night Winds 4:08
    3. 17 iii. Starlight 1:07
    4. 18 iv. Tenebrae 2:11
    5. 19 v. “strange thunders from the potency of song” 3:08
    6. 20 vi. Labyrinths 4:04
    7. 21 vii. “The shifting of mighty winds that blow hither and thither all the changing thoughts of man” 4:37
  6. 22 La Natura dell’ Acqua, Op. 154 (1981) Elisabeth Lutyens 9:26

Lutyens’ musical language is passionate, dramatic and highly assertive. She exploits both the percussive and the sonorous capabilities of the piano to great effect. This recording reveals a valuable body of work that spans the 1940s to the early 1980s.

In the artist’s words

I think you would love her or loathe her. No half-measures. She was provocative and outspoken, deeply sensitive and fragile – uncomfortable contradictions that are embodied in her music. She had remained an authentic Fitzrovia bohemian twenty years on, fuelled by booze and cigarettes, an artist whose work was confrontational and whose intelligence commanded respect. I found that she was a delight to play for, I think she found musical performance rather sexy, and she was seemingly fascinated by colour-in-sound, her piano-writing is, above all, extremely sensual. The sensuality includes violence, darkness and pain as much as it does delicacy and fluidity. Liz honed away at her sounds, sculpting, polishing them rather than covering them with varnish.

— Michael Finnissy

Reviews

There is no other recording to compare this one with, and indeed that’s the whole point of it. Arabella Teniswood-Harvey has made a very important contribution, a recording that could remain authoritative for decades. This is high-quality playing; firm, clear, and strong, with a beautiful sound over a huge dynamic range. Thanks and congratulations!

— Peter Billam, Music Forum Magazine

Artists

Photograph of Arabella Teniswood-Harvey

Arabella Teniswood-Harvey

piano

Arabella Teniswood-Harvey is a Tasmanian-born pianist who studied in Melbourne and, in 1999, was awarded a full scholarship to the Australian National Academy of Music’s inaugural Advanced Performance Program.

 Photograph of Elisabeth Lutyens

Elisabeth Lutyens

composer

Elisabeth Lutyens as one of the five children of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and his wife Emily, who was profoundly involved in the Theosophical Movement. From 1911 the young Krishnamurti was living in their London house as a friend of Elisabeth and her sisters. At age nine she began to aspire to be a composer, which given the prowess of her father in architecture, and the domineering nature of her mother, allowed her to elude her parents' attempt to live vicariously through their children.

Digital booklet

Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDF

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$25.00 AUD

Compact disc

Buywell Music Australian Music Centre

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Apple Music

Also available to download from the iTunes Store.

Performers

Technical credits

  • Recording Engineer Vaughan McAlley
  • Mastering Engineer Martin Wright
  • Venue Move Records Studio
  • Thanks to British Library
    University of Tasmania
    University of York Music Press
  • Credit Conrad Clark

Details

List price
$25.00 AUD
Total playing time
63 minutes 6 seconds
Release date
Categories
Classical, Keyboard
Genres
Modernist Classical, Contemporary Classical
Musical work copyright
© 2011 Move Records
Sound recording copyright
℗ 2011 Move Records
Catalogue
MD 3354
EAN
9314574335422

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